Big car is watching you
Do you often feel like you're being watched? You may soon have every reason to do so in Japan. Because there, cars might actually be looking at you with big eyes.
And for safety reasons: Scientists at Tokyo University have discovered that large moving eyes above the front bumper ensure greater safety in road traffic with autonomously driving cars. The googly eyes are movable and focus either on the road or on pedestrians standing at the side of the road. The latter signals that the car is stopping - after all, the car has detected the pedestrian with its eyes.
During the experiment, a clear difference was found in the risk appetite of the roadside test subjects. Men tended to run across the road quickly before the approaching, eyeless car. Women remained more cautious and waited even when the vehicle stopped. The eyes directed at the pedestrians, on the other hand, are supposed to signal that the vehicle will stop. If the eyes remained directed straight ahead, the car continued to drive. In fact, men then also stopped more often . And women who were looked at by the eyes more often decided to cross the road because they knew that they were perceived and assumed that the car would stop.
Whether the eyes on the cars, which are inevitably reminiscent of the Pixar film "Cars", can really contribute something to road safety, the researchers must now test in further tests and with more test subjects. Will there soon be not only environmental stickers on the vehicles, but also eyes?